Chapter 56 - Yi’jie and Er’jie
Translator: Lav
Editor: Levs
Shi Lei held up a meat skewer and chewed on it, but Zhang Liangliang took a bite out of everything. Then, a shy voice sounded behind them.
“s.h.i.tou ge……”
Shi Lei abruptly turned his head and as expected, it was Sun Yiyi. Except her eyes were widened and her face displayed traces of timidity.
“Yiyi, why are you here?” When he said that, he already saw the thermal container in Sun Yiyi’s hands. Shi Lei didn’t need her to reply and knew that she was giving him soup again.
“No, no, I meant, why did you come here at this time? Aunt just finished her surgery, shouldn’t you be at the hospital feeding her?”
Sun Yiyi blushed and her sound was as tiny as fly: “Mum already ate earlier. After that, I went home and got the soup I made. I thought that I can make it before you have dinner. But I called you and you didn’t answer. I found your dorm but the chubby guy told me that you won’t be eating at the canteen, so I thought I’d look for you around this area……”
Although it sounded easy, but Shi Lei knew that Sun Yiyi had spent a long time looking for him. He quickly pulled out a stool and dragged her to sit down.
“Have you eaten dinner yet?” Shi Lei asked with care.
“I haven’t yet….” Sun Yiyi’s voice was barely audible.
Shi Lei quickly pushed all the food in front of Sun Yiyi and said: “Hurry up and eat some. Take a look and eat whatever you want!”
But Sun Yiyi put down the container on the table slowly and said softly: “s.h.i.tou ge, you should drink some soup first. It’s in a thermal container so it shouldn’t be cold yet.”
As she said that, she opened the lid of the container and poured soup in a bowl.
As she put the soup in front of Shi Lei, Sun Yiyi then noticed Zhang Liangliang, who was also staring at her with widened eyes. She said timidly but firmly: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that s.h.i.tou ge has a friend here so I didn’t prepare an extra set of cutlery.”
Shi Lei quickly said: “It’s fine, we’ll just get a disposable one.”
But Zhang Liangliang said rather generously: “Dashu, is this your girlfriend?”
Shi Lei rolled his eyes at Zhang Liangliang. He looked at Sun Yiyi but she lowered her head shyly and blushed.
About this, Shi Lei really didn’t know how to introduce herself. If the Scepter did not emphasize that she sold herself to him, he would definitely say that he only grew up with her together and wouldn’t dare to say that she’s his girlfriend. But the situation was rather delicate if he didn’t admit that they are going out, then will he have to tell Zhang Liangliang that he bought her for a year?
Fortunately Sun Yiyi raised her head, although she was timid and shy, but she said rather firmly: “I grew up together with s.h.i.tou ge and our families want us to be together.”
She did not say much, but she revealed two very important information.
First, since they grew up together, they are playmates and knew everything about each other. It didn’t matter who Zhang Liangliang was, she could not compete against Sun Yiyi in terms of time.
Second, their families also wanted them to be together and it was not wrong. At that time, their parents wanted them to maintain their feelings and if they could walk together after they grew up, it would be the most ideal situation. But obviously, something happened in the middle and after Sun Yiyi moved away, their parents no longer had this thought. But Sun Yiyi purposely concealed this so it was impossible for Zhang Liangliang to know.
“Oh, childhood playmates. h.e.l.lo, my name is Zhang Liangliang.” Zhang Liangliang stretched her hand out and Sun Yiyi was slightly surprised. She was very introverted unlike Zhang Liangliang who was outgoing. If it was her, it was impossible for her to do something like this.
She hesitated for a while but shook hands with Zhang Liangliang and said in a small voice: “I’m Sun Yiyi, Yi Ko Lian’s(1) ‘Yi’ and Yi Ren’s ‘Yi’(2).”
Shi Lei also added on the introduction: “Er’jie is my tutor student. She’s like you who also lives with her mother. Except her mother is usually busy and doesn’t come back for dinner, so I eat with her after tutoring her. I didn’t think that you’d come……”
Zhang Liangliang smirked and acted perfectly normal. Except she pointed at Shi Lei and said: “Dashu, you are really nervous. Why are you explaining so much? I’m not even 16 yet, don"t tell me you are scared that Yiyi jie(3) will misunderstand us?”
Shi Lei was speechless and thought to himself, if you don’t open your mouth, there won’t be any misunderstandings.
But Sun Yiyi’s attention was obviously different from those two. She asked: “She’s only 16, s.h.i.tou ge, why do you call her er’jie?”
Shi Lei laughed and said: “Her name is Zhang Liangliang, ‘Liangliang’ is ‘liangliang’, ‘liang’ is ‘er’, so her WeChat’s called ‘er’jie’. I got used to it and call her that.”
Again, Sun Yiyi focus point was rather weird as she said: “Oh, so you added each other on WeChat already.”
Shi Lei was feeling awkward and Zhang Liangliang explained for him: “My Mum’s too busy. I have to organise the time for the tutor and fees myself so it’s more convenient for me to add dashu on WeChat. Hehe, Yiyi jiejie, don’t tell me you are jealous?”
“I’m not!” Sun Yiyi suddenly became shy and lowered her head. Zhang Liangliang raised her eyebrows and said: “Yiyi jiejie, when I first saw you, I thought we’d make good friends. Plus, look at it, I’m called ‘Liangliang’ and you are called ‘Yiyi’, you can be my da’jie(4) and I’ll be er’jie. Our families are also single parents and we both live with our mothers, isn’t that a coincidence?”
Sun Yiyi had a thought indeed, it was a coincidence. Especially their names, one is ‘yi’, one is ‘liang’, maybe they’ll meet someone called ‘Sansan(5)’ later.”
“Stop the nonsense. Yiyi’s father pa.s.sed away, you father is not……”
Zhang Liangliang said carelessly: “That guy, it doesn’t make a difference whether he’s alive or dead. Even the court doesn’t support me to see a guy like him. My Mum even applied for an injunction that I don’t need to deal with him before I become an adult.”
Shi Lei was speechless and could only say that Zhang Liangliang was broad-minded. But thinking back to the only experience he had with Zhang Liangliang’s father on the other side of the door, it was almost enough for him to understand her thoughts. A man who had never taken responsibilities for his daughter, it really didn’t make a difference whether he was alive or not.
They asked for another two bowls and Shi Lei poured both yi’jie(6) and er’jie a bowl of soup. Zhang Liangliang had a sip and complimented her cooking non-stop. After dinner, she even dragged Sun Yiyi to exchange WeChat and phone numbers. She was so affectionate that it seemed like they were long lost sisters.
But Shi Lei felt that Zhang Liangliang was too affectionate. Sun Yiyi didn’t understand as she thought Zhang Liangliang’s personality was like this.
After they finished dinner, Shi Lei said he will send Zhang Liangliang back. But Zhang Liangliang said that she lives close to the area so she insisted to see Sun Yiyi catch the bus first.
So, the two of them waited with Sun Yiyi till her bus came, then Shi Lei sent Zhang Liangliang home.
On the way back, Zhang Liangliang asked: “Dashu, you really like yi’jie, don’t you?”
“You are a brat, why are you b.u.t.ting in so much?”
“Well I don’t mind, she can be first and I’ll be second. Our names decided everything already!”
Zhang Liangliang mumbled to herself, but Shi Lei was astonished.
Holy s.h.i.t, is she crazy? But, it seems glorious!
(1) Yi Ko Lian’s ‘Yi’: clarifying the character for her name through a brand of candy called ‘Yi Ko Lian’
(2) Yi Ren’s ‘Yi’: clarifying the character for her name through a word which means ‘beauty’
(3) Jie: older sister
(4) Da’jie: big sister
(5) Sansan: ‘san’ means three
(6) Yi’jie: as mentioned before, Zhang Liangliang got her name er’jie from her name, Sun Yiyi’s name also works in the same way like Zhang Liangliang. Although the characters for her ‘yi’ are different, but they both share the same p.r.o.nunciation as ‘one’ in Chinese, which is also ‘yi’.
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